Necessary Temptation
by shewhoguards
Summary: Some choices are too important to allow humans to make them wrongly.


Almost, he was ready to betray him of his own accord. It was easy to see in the little things he did, in the way he reacted to things. Judas was never quite the same as the others - he questioned more, and worried more. He didn't like being told to just have faith - he wanted answers.

We thought that would be enough, and it very nearly was. There was betrayal in his mind that last supper, and perhaps, had he been left, he would have gone through with it.

But no. Such things cannot simply be done, can they? There always must be a formality about it, a ceremony about changing the world, with speeches and the like. And then **that** one spoke of betrayal, and looked into his eyes, and we felt his heart change.

Were gods and demons allowed to feel such things, I would have pitied him then. The guilt at even having thought of such a thing, the love and repentance - normally such things would be rewarded. But in this case… no. In this case, that was not the way the world had to go.

There were two paths, you see. There were always two paths. Judas could betray him now, and then he would die, and rise again, and it would be story that spread to a hundred, and then a thousand, and then the world. Thousands of years would pass, and people would still remember what had happened here, and act one way or another because of it.

Or, he could repent. But if he repented, there would be no death. And if there were no death, how could there be a resurrection? Jesus would simply grow old and die, like a thousand preachers before him, and in a hundred years his name would be forgotten. A mere ripple on the world's surface, rather than the splash we intended. No, that would not do.

And so, I was sent. Yes, Satan, the devil, Beelzebub - you think I don't know my many names? But tell me, who else could be sent to do this job? Where is the story if it is the temptations provided by God himself that cause the death of His only Son? No, that wouldn't fit the script. It had to be me, the one who brings shadow into the light.

**He** knew it too. It was in his eyes before he passed Judas the bread, just before I slipped into him. He didn't say anything of course. Both gods and demons know that sometimes certain things just have to be done.

_Don't be afraid._ I could feel Judas panic when he first realised my presence, _There are some very important things that have to be done, and it happens that you're the one to do them._

Amazing how close the scripts of demons and angels run sometimes.

I used emotional blackmail. I won't deny it. I explained to him the importance of what had to be done and showed him the consequences if he did, and if he didn't. Of course, it was a selective truth. There are people who would have lived who died because Christianity had not been founded, but then again there are also people who would have died who ended up living. You can't leave it to a human to decide which are the most important. Father of Lies? Don't make me laugh. I didn't tell a lie in that entire conversation, I was merely selective with the truth.

And then, once I felt him bend to the path he needed to follow, I let him go again.

"What you are about to do, do quickly." That was **Him**, and I swear I heard sadness in that tone. Gods and demons are not allowed pity, but remember He was at least part human.

And so the story that needed to be heard for two thousand years was completed. The Betrayal. The Death. The Resurrection. Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, a kiss, and a promise that this way the world would go the way it should.

And the man we had broken for it suicided in a field, and humanity cared so much about it that those who recorded it couldn't even be clear on how he'd died. His every motive before that act would be questioned, and forever afterwards he would be known as the Betrayer. Forgiveness? Where humanity's concerned? Well, if they were any good at that we wouldn't've had to run this whole story, now would we?


End file.
